The present application claims the priority of a United Kingdom patent filed Jul. 3, 2000 under application No. 0016402.0.
The present invention relates to mine detonating apparatus and vehicles including such apparatus. The invention relates particularly, but not exclusively, to mine detonating apparatus for use with armoured personnel carriers.
In many situations, such as peacekeeping operations and low intensity conflicts, there is a:requirement for military or peacekeeping personnel to be able to travel along roads which may be mined.
A mine detonating apparatus for use with battle tanks is known. The apparatus includes a pair of heavy rollers known as mine rollers), each of which is located in front of a track of the tank. As the tracks of the tank approach a mine, the weight of the rollers detonates the mine. These rollers are made of steel and are sufficiently strong that they are able to withstand the blast.
Mine detonating apparatus of this type suffers from the drawback that while the heavy sacrificial mine rollers can readily be fitted to battle tanks (weighing approximately 40 to 60 tonne), they are too heavy to be carried on armoured personnel carriers, which generally weigh only approximately 10 to 20 tonne.
A known mine detonating apparatus for use on armoured personnel carriers which seeks to overcome this drawback uses hydraulic force to exert a force of about 2 tonnes on the rollers (which, together with the one tonne weight of the roller applies a force of 3 tonne on the ground) to compensate for the smaller weight of the rollers compared with the rollers used with tanks. However, this arrangement suffers from the drawback that they are only effective when the vehicle is travelling in a relatively straight line, and only operate across the width of the track or wheel of the vehicle and not the region between the tracks or wheels. It is not feasible to modify the prior art rollers to operate across the entire width of the front of the vehicle, since it would not be possible to make front rollers of such width castor, thus significantly impairing the mobility of the vehicle, and the vehicle would have to apply a downward force of about 3.5 tonne to the forward roller assembly to enable the roller assembly to apply the necessary force of about 5 tonne to the ground. This would cause undesirable upward movement of the front of the vehicle.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention seek to overcome the above disadvantages of the prior art.